Welcome! This blog follows the building, cultivating, and harvesting of the Lakewood Elementary schoolyard garden in St. Petersburg, Florida. Since January 2009, the Edible Peace Patch Project has been developing innovative community-oriented food system and nutrition educational programs in south St. Petersburg, Florida. Lakewood Elementary is the 1st school to participate in our Garden Education Program!

Edible Peace Patch Blogs

Monday, September 21, 2009

Just When You Thought It Couldn't Get Any More Humid...

Today was a cooler day compared to the last few weeks, but boy was it humid! While the slight breeze felt rather nice, the sweat dripping continuously down my forehead reminded me of two things: 1) the difference in the weather between Florida and New York, where I grew up and where I spent my summer gardening; and 2) how much hard work setting up a garden of this magnitude really is. For the first, it was generally just a cooler summer. For the second, I was able to let my summer garden grow a little more wild, where our garden needs to be more structured here so that it helps our ability to teach the children. Also, it really just looks a lot better this way!

This last part is especially true after our hard work today. The decorative plants around the perimeter were being choked by the ever-growing grass, so we set to work today delicately weeding (also known as chopping the relentless grass with a shovel), laying down mulch around the plants, and setting up trellises for them to grow upon. We also dug more holes in the Three Sister's patch to transplant more corn into. More mulch was also moved from the pile of mulch we left over the summer into the Three Sister's patch. Since it rained yesterday, we didn't have to water much, although we gave a little extra to the gourds, which we are hoping don't die. Lastly we planted some seeds: parsley, nasturtiums, dill, cress, and carrots, as well as turned the compost. There will be more transplanting to come this week, though, as seeds we planted in starters last week popped up over the weekend and look big and healthy!

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About The Edible Peace Patch

is one of two schoolyard gardens run by The Edible Peace Patch Project in St. Petersburg, Florida. This project was developed to set a standard for experiential education as well as provide valuable mentoring opportunities for undergraduate students in St. Petersburg, and to provide academic support and collaborative experiential learning to students in south Pinellas County.